Why a Good Headshot Is Important for Commercial Actors

A good headshot is crucial to your success as a commercial actor. It’s important to get new headshots every few years, or sooner if you change your hair or appearance. Oftentimes, roles are so specific that you’ll get an audition based solely on your headshot. If you no longer look like your headshot, you are doing yourself a major disservice. When you’re getting new headshots, look as natural and most like yourself as possible. The headshots that I’m drawn to are those that expose a special uniqueness about a person’s face, while also catching a glimpse into their personality. Perfect hair and perfect make-up are big turn-offs. Excessive re-touching is also a bad idea. Photographers usually offer a certain number of “looks” for your session. My advice is to choose casual outfits, something that you would wear to an audition. Don’t wear costumes. We don’t need to see you in a lab coat or a fireman’s uniform. The one exception I would make is that if you actually were a fireman (or a police officer, or an athlete, etc.) and you audition for that type of role, maybe have one realistic looking headshot in your uniform, but nothing overly staged.